


Wilting in Bloom

by estriel



Series: August Break 2019 [2]
Category: Figure Skating RPF
Genre: 2018 Fantasy on Ice, Angst, Falling In Love, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-08-02
Updated: 2019-08-02
Packaged: 2020-07-29 12:35:04
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 389
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20082292
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/estriel/pseuds/estriel
Summary: It takes so very little for Javi to fall in love...It takes so very much courage to act on the love...





	Wilting in Bloom

**Author's Note:**

> Today's prompt for August Break is _pink_. 
> 
> Inspired by this bit I read about [sakura blossom in Japan: ](https://notwithoutmypassport.com/cherry-blossom-meaning-in-japan/) _Blooming season is powerful, glorious and intoxicating, but tragically short-lived — a visual reminder that our lives, too, are fleeting._
> 
> _Why don’t we marvel at our own passing time on earth with the same joy and passion? Why do we neglect to revel in life when it can end at any moment, or in the grace surrounding us everywhere: our family, friends, a stranger’s smile, a child’s laugh, new flavours on our plate or the scent of green grass? It is time, cherry blossoms remind us, to pay attention._

In the end, it takes so very little for Javi to fall in love with Yuzu. Or maybe he has been falling all these years, and this is just the final drop. Javi is not sure. All he knows, as he watches Yuzu move across the ice in his pink dream of a costume, is that Yuzu is like the sakura blossoms Javi has always been fascinated by.

Here now, in full glorious bloom, with the pink-tinted cheeks and glistening lips, his every movement like poetry to Javi’s eye… and yet already almost out of reach, fading out of Javi’s life as inevitably as a sakura petal carried away by the wind.

Javi is retired, or as good as, and his life going forward will no longer involve days upon days filled with Yuzu – his company, his rivalry, his friendship and commiseration, and his hands, ever so gentle, as he helps Javi up from yet another fall.

It is a scary prospect.

And so Javi drinks this in, this ephemeral sight of Yuzu moving through his exhibition program, and commits each and every second of it to memory. He watches with hungry eyes each step and turn, each jump and spin, and he loves him. He loves him like he has never loved anyone else – tenderly, from a distance, his heart fluttering madly in his chest, calling out for something, _anything_ that could stop time…

But of course time rolls forward, and too soon, Yuzu is stepping off the ice, walking past Javi, pulling him into a hug backstage.

Too soon, Javi feels his arms let go – out of habit, out of propriety – even though letting go of Yuzu is the last thing he wants.

Too soon, Yuzu is out of his embrace, and giving him one last wistful smile, the same smile he has been giving Javi since PyeongChang, the one that Javi is almost certain means that Yuzu knows how Javi feels, and that he feels the same.

Too soon, and Yuzu is gone, a sparkling mirage of pink chiffon and pearls disappearing down a hallway, a dream that was within reach… had Javi only been brave enough.

Javi closes his eyes, and forces himself to breathe and go through the motions, because he has a life to live, even when his heart is dying inside him.

**Author's Note:**

> Loved it? Hated it? I live for comments! (And I will respond to all of them, eventually - I apologize that it sometimes takes me too long. I read and love them all!!!)


End file.
